The passing of the Draft Budget by the Stormont Executive has blown apart the pretense of opposition to cuts by the politicians in the Assembly. By voting for the Draft Budget, the DUP and Sinn Féin are agreeing to make horrific cuts to vital services at a time when they are needed most.

What party represents the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets on 11 October and 1 November (and the many others not on those marches who applaud them)? It's obvious there is a gaping political vacuum, with no major party or movement basing itself on fighting the cause of workers, the unemployed, pensioners and young people.

Just like the Catholic Church and the Irish and British States before them, Sinn Féin and the IRA have been exposed for covering up sexual abuse in order to protect its own members and their organisation.

It will be a day that's remembered for years to come in Ireland, 12 October 2014. An estimated 100,000 marched in Dublin against the hated Water Charges and Paul Murphy, Anti Austerity Alliance (AAA) candidate, won a By-Election by leading the call for a mass campaign of non-payment and active resistance to this double tax.